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LETTERS: Crosswalks no protection

With all due respect to J. Routledge’s frivolous letter to the editor, I would like to make this comment. I am a jaywalker and for this one reason – it is safer! I do not do it for convenience, but for safety.

Seven years ago, I was a pedestrian in a marked crosswalk on my way to work, and a woman hit me with her car, tossed me up onto her roof and kept driving. I eventually fell off, and I’m lucky enough to be alive today.

My entire life changed in those few minutes, and today I live with PTSD – a nasty disorder that is the result of my near-death experience.

It has taken me years to rebuild my life and my career. Since then, as a rule, I avoid crosswalks.

This week, I decided to use a crosswalk while I was walking my two Doberman pinschers. The three of us were nearly struck by a woman in a small silver SUV. She came so close that I felt her.

This was not a case of jaywalking, but a case of a pedestrian in a marked crosswalk – with a walk sign – with two large dogs, being ignored by a woman who was not distracted as I made eye contact with her, but one with an obvious case of road rage. I have since gone back to jaywalking, thank you.

As for our police, I think they have far more important things to do than control jaywalkers.

Lee Wyllie, Surrey

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